The morning air was cool and still, the kind of peaceful quiet Isabelle usually savored. But today, the calm felt fragile — like something waiting to break. The kitchen smelled of freshly brewed coffee and warm toast, and the faint sound of cartoons drifted in from the living room where the twins were curled up on the couch.
Isabelle sat at the kitchen table, scrolling through emails on her laptop, trying to focus on work. But her mind kept drifting — back to Family Day, to the way the twins had clung to Sebastian, to the way he’d fit so seamlessly into their lives. To the way it had felt, for just a little while, like they really were the family the world now believed them to be.
She was so lost in thought that she didn’t notice Sophia walk in until her sister let out a sharp intake of
